Once again, James Furdell corrects the fabrics of our reality.

Way to keep'em in line and referee the english language.

Am I still allowed to Google things? And more importantly, why are you reading a site called "news.com.com"? Shouldn't it be "newsdotcom.com"?

Why on earth does TiVo want to discourage people form making TiVo into a household word? I mean, honestly what does Jell-o have going for them other than that you feel vaguely wrong buying a "knock-off?"

It's a trademark dilution thing. If it becomes a generic term, people can start using it with reckless abandon. E.g., "$24.99 Jell-O molds in the shape of John Holmes's cock!" If the Jell-O people had policed their trademark rights like the TiVo Stasi plan to, that probably wouldn't be allowed today (and your mom wouldn't be enjoying a delicious phallic dessert right now).

By the way, "your mom" was not directed at anyone in particular.

Yeah, I guess I understand the dilution argument, but the benefit to being the sole brand identified with a particular type of product seems to far outweight the value of being able to police use of the term.

I mean, Jell-o may not be as popular as it used to be, but if you needed flavored gelatin for something and Jello was a similar price to any of the other gelatin snacks, would you even consider not getting the jello, despite having no rational basis for believing its a superior product?

Ah, but Jell-O shareholders will not be satisfied with the profits reaped by being similarly priced. They WANT to charge a premium. Imagine the Jell-O grandchildren having to be seen living in the same neighborhood as those My-T-Fine miscreants!

Disclaimer: I'm no trademark lawyer (though I'd rather play one on tv).

The problem isn't dilution, it is genericness. Once the word comes to stand for the product as a whole and not the brand of that product the courts will no longer enforce the tm rights and the registration will be canceled. Once the pendulum swings that far forward the benefit of being linked to the class of products is valueless since everyone else can market under the name and no consumer understands that the word operates to identify a single source.

For example:
thermos, escalator, aspirin, safari jackets, saran wrap - all started out as brand names. (normally I have more, but my brain is in copyright mode right now)

Thanks RM. For those of you who are unhealthily curious:

http://www.bitlaw.com/trademark/dilution.html

Seems a reasonably accurate and SHORT summary of the issue.

Touche.

Nonetheless, I'll have both of you know that I only purchase Escalator-brand escalators.

Yeah; in some of the journalism magazines, big companies take out full-page ads "reminding" us not to use their trademarks in a generic way - I haven't subcribed to any in a few years, so I don't know if Tivo is going that route, but I remember Jeep used to run lots of 'em. Kleenex, too, I think.

Well, if we are catering to the unhealthily curious. . . Again, dilution is not what's happening here. That's for someone making TiVo brand toilet cleaners - and only if TiVo is sufficiently famous. The toilet cleaner shopper won't assume TiVo is also making toilet cleaners (Well, not with the corporate forms that existed at the time the law was made) so there is no confusion to support infringement, but TiVo still does not want people to think f two different types of products when they hear the word (blurring), and they certainly don't want people to think of toilets (Tarnishment). (Note that this is the first statute to treat TM as a property right and not a consumer protection act. This does not benefit consumers at all.)
The distinction is that genericness is when the mark is associated with all of that class of product; dilution is when the mark is not associated with any class of product in particular, but it once was, very strongly.

A+ IRAC

. . .Or is it CREAC?

Some of the companies that didn't do a good job protecting their and I'm pretty sure at least Thermos got screwed on it, but think about "I'm going to Xerox this order form for Q-Tips, Kleenex, Asprin, Band-Aids, Cellophane, Trampolines and Rollerblades." All of which are copyrights that have gotten genericized.

At my office, you need a separate form for ordering trampolines and cellophane. Inefficient!